17 Applicative constructions in the Inuit-Yupik-Unangan (Eskimo-Aleut) languages
-
Marianne Mithun
Abstract
Six applicative constructions can be identified in languages of the Yupik-Inuktitut- Unangan family. The languages show basic ergative/absolutive patterning in nominal case marking, and only definite referents can be core arguments. The applicatives add an argument which is cast as the absolutive of a transitive clause. The base clause may be intransitive or transitive, but if it was transitive, the original absolutive is expressed as an oblique or not mentioned. One general applicative, with cognates across the family, is quite productive and can add a recipient, a beneficiary, a referent affected by natural phenomena, a companion, an instrument, or a reason. Within the Yupik-Inuktitut branch, one additional applicative built on this can add a reason in Yupik, and an instrument, means, cause, or reason in Kalaallisut (Greenlandic). Another can add a spatial goal. Yup’ik also contains an adversative applicative and a replacive applicative ‘in place of’. Kalaallisut also contains a comitative applicative. Applicative clauses can be nominalized to form terms referring to the applied absolutive. Within discourse, applicatives can function to bring topical referents into the core, but because they are derivational, their use depends on the inventories of derived lexical items in each language.
Abstract
Six applicative constructions can be identified in languages of the Yupik-Inuktitut- Unangan family. The languages show basic ergative/absolutive patterning in nominal case marking, and only definite referents can be core arguments. The applicatives add an argument which is cast as the absolutive of a transitive clause. The base clause may be intransitive or transitive, but if it was transitive, the original absolutive is expressed as an oblique or not mentioned. One general applicative, with cognates across the family, is quite productive and can add a recipient, a beneficiary, a referent affected by natural phenomena, a companion, an instrument, or a reason. Within the Yupik-Inuktitut branch, one additional applicative built on this can add a reason in Yupik, and an instrument, means, cause, or reason in Kalaallisut (Greenlandic). Another can add a spatial goal. Yup’ik also contains an adversative applicative and a replacive applicative ‘in place of’. Kalaallisut also contains a comitative applicative. Applicative clauses can be nominalized to form terms referring to the applied absolutive. Within discourse, applicatives can function to bring topical referents into the core, but because they are derivational, their use depends on the inventories of derived lexical items in each language.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Purpose and Aim of the Series V
- Contents VII
-
Part I: General chapters
- 1 Applicative constructions: An introductory overview 1
- 2 Questionnaire on applicative constructions 57
- 3 Languages examined or referred to in the present book 61
-
Part II: Case studies
-
Individual languages
- 4 Hul’q’umi’num’ Salish applicative constructions 79
- 5 Applicatives in Upper Necaxa Totonac 115
- 6 Applicatives in Toba/Qom (Guaykuruan) 143
- 7 The applicative constructions of Mapudungun 179
- 8 Applicative constructions and non-applicative uses of applicative morphology in Tswana (Bantu) 211
- 9 Applicativization in Amharic 243
- 10 Applicative constructions in Standard Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) 279
-
Areal overviews
- 11 Contact-induced diffusion of applicatives in northwestern Amazonia? 307
- 12 Applicatives in Papuan languages 347
- 13 Applicative constructions in Australian Aboriginal languages 391
- 14 Applicativizing preverbs in selected European languages 419
-
Genealogical overviews
- 15 Applicatives in Northern Uto-Aztecan languages 475
- 16 Applicative constructions in Uto-Aztecan languages from Northwestern Mexico 509
- 17 Applicative constructions in the Inuit-Yupik-Unangan (Eskimo-Aleut) languages 557
- 18 Applicatives across Algonquian 601
- 19 Applicative constructions in Mayan languages: An overview with special focus on Chontal 645
- 20 Applicative constructions in two Otomanguean families: Otomi and Zapotec 679
- 21 The polyfunctional applicative *-ɪd in Bantu languages 719
- 22 B-applicatives and I-applicatives in Atlantic languages (Niger-Congo) 749
- 23 Nilotic applicatives 783
- 24 Applicative constructions in Cushitic 835
- 25 Applicative constructions in the Northwest Caucasian languages 869
- 26 Applicative constructions in Kartvelian 913
- 27 Applicative derivations in Kiranti 943
- 28 Applicative constructions in languages of western Indonesia 971
-
Part III: Theoretical/Comparative outlook
- 29 Understanding applicatives 1007
- 30 Applicatives cross-linguistically: Features and distribution 1033
- 31 Applicative and related constructions: Results and perspectives 1045
- Language index 1077
- Subject index 1083
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Purpose and Aim of the Series V
- Contents VII
-
Part I: General chapters
- 1 Applicative constructions: An introductory overview 1
- 2 Questionnaire on applicative constructions 57
- 3 Languages examined or referred to in the present book 61
-
Part II: Case studies
-
Individual languages
- 4 Hul’q’umi’num’ Salish applicative constructions 79
- 5 Applicatives in Upper Necaxa Totonac 115
- 6 Applicatives in Toba/Qom (Guaykuruan) 143
- 7 The applicative constructions of Mapudungun 179
- 8 Applicative constructions and non-applicative uses of applicative morphology in Tswana (Bantu) 211
- 9 Applicativization in Amharic 243
- 10 Applicative constructions in Standard Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) 279
-
Areal overviews
- 11 Contact-induced diffusion of applicatives in northwestern Amazonia? 307
- 12 Applicatives in Papuan languages 347
- 13 Applicative constructions in Australian Aboriginal languages 391
- 14 Applicativizing preverbs in selected European languages 419
-
Genealogical overviews
- 15 Applicatives in Northern Uto-Aztecan languages 475
- 16 Applicative constructions in Uto-Aztecan languages from Northwestern Mexico 509
- 17 Applicative constructions in the Inuit-Yupik-Unangan (Eskimo-Aleut) languages 557
- 18 Applicatives across Algonquian 601
- 19 Applicative constructions in Mayan languages: An overview with special focus on Chontal 645
- 20 Applicative constructions in two Otomanguean families: Otomi and Zapotec 679
- 21 The polyfunctional applicative *-ɪd in Bantu languages 719
- 22 B-applicatives and I-applicatives in Atlantic languages (Niger-Congo) 749
- 23 Nilotic applicatives 783
- 24 Applicative constructions in Cushitic 835
- 25 Applicative constructions in the Northwest Caucasian languages 869
- 26 Applicative constructions in Kartvelian 913
- 27 Applicative derivations in Kiranti 943
- 28 Applicative constructions in languages of western Indonesia 971
-
Part III: Theoretical/Comparative outlook
- 29 Understanding applicatives 1007
- 30 Applicatives cross-linguistically: Features and distribution 1033
- 31 Applicative and related constructions: Results and perspectives 1045
- Language index 1077
- Subject index 1083
